WEEK 1:STARTING THE RACE
by Peter Koontz
Any great undertaking takes adjustment and time to learn. FCA Baseball camps are a great undertaking with a myriad of challenges and nobody could really fault a camp worker for needing to figure it out as they go in the first week of a long summer. But that is simply not the way the Shepherds do things. Eternal lives are at stake week in and week out and there are souls that can be won by the grace of God every single day of camp. So there is no time to start slow or ease in. The Shepherds dove into Week 1 of the summer at La Mirada High school with purpose, intensity, and excellence despite the magnitude of their task.
Over the course of a week, I had the privilege of seeing numerous examples of the type of beautiful sacrifice talked about in Philippians 2:3-4 which reads “2 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Day in and day out this week, I was able to witness many men and women of the faith truly show how deeply they care about God’s kingdom and his children who need to hear about it so desperately. Self interest of all kinds was put to the side as mind, body and spirit were put to the test all day every day for a long week of camp.
One of the men on the front lines of these efforts was Shepherd Matthew Busch. Busch was able to speak into the mentality and trials of the week by saying that “The most tiring part of a week at camp is probably just how long our days are. With practice and the gym on top of camp the hours add up.” They certainly do, as the Shepherds serve at camp for 40 hours a week and have to work to stay in baseball shape outside of the camps too.
But this is the life that the Shepherds have chosen for this summer, and they would not trade it for anything.
For Busch himself, he says that “It’s all worth it for the relationships I have been able to make with the campers and the other coaches. I saw God working in one of my campers this week and he made the amazing decision to follow Christ! Another big highlight was me and my boys winning our final game of the week in a nail biter against the Maple Mashers.”
Jesus and baseball really do come together in beautiful harmony at these camps, and getting to teach and share both beautiful things makes serving at FCA baseball not merely a chore that the men and women God brings together to run this time suffer through and tolerate, but a pleasure and privilege that every one of them cherish as a highlight of their summer, year, and even lives.
Week 1 is in the books, and this year’s squad of FCA leaders is off to a hot start.